The work presented here demonstrates using a novel, field-responsive nanocomposite based on shear thickening fluids (STFs) as responsive protective materials with superior damping and energy adsorption properties. Peak forces and accelerations measured using an instrumented Instron™ drop tower demonstrate that STF nanocomposite prototypes and impact foam taken from a commercial football helmet have similar performance for low kinetic energy impacts. However, tests with STF nanocomposite samples exhibit significantly reduced peak acceleration and peak force for impacts above 15 J. Thus, the STF containing nanocomposite material provides improved energy adsorption upon impact as compared to the commercial foam. These tests suggest that STF nanocomposite materials have promising potential as novel energy dissipating components in personal protective equipment.
Issue Section:
Technical Brief
Keywords:
Biomechanics
References
1.
Gavett
, B. E.
, Stern
, R. A.
, and McKee
, A. C.
, 2011
, “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: A Potential Late Effect of Sport-Related Concussive and Subconcussive Head Trauma
,” Clin. Sports Med.
, 30
(1
), pp. 179
–188
.10.1016/j.csm.2010.09.0072.
Langlois
, J. A.
, Rutland-Brown
, W.
, and Wald
, M. M.
, 2006
, “The Epidemiology and Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury: A Brief Overview
,” J. Head Trauma Rehabil.
, 21
(5
), pp. 375
–378
.10.1097/00001199-200609000-000013.
Thurman
, D. J.
, Branche
, C. M.
, and Sniezek
, J. E.
, 1998
, “The Epidemiology of Sports-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries in the United States: Recent Developments
,” J. Head Trauma Rehabil.
, 13
(2
), pp. 1
–8
.4.
Omalu
, B. I.
, DeKosky
, S. T.
, Hamilton
, R. L.
, Minster
, R. L.
, Kamboh
, M. I.
, Shakir
, A. M.
, and Wecht
, C. H.
, 2006
, “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player: Part II
,” Neurosurgery
, 59
(5
), pp. 1086
–1092
10.1227/01.NEU.0000245601.69451.27.5.
Thomas
, M.
, Haas
, T. S.
, Doerer
, J. J.
, Hodges
, J. S.
, Aicher
, B. O.
, Garberich
, R. F.
, Mueller
, F. O.
, Cantu
, R. C.
, and Maron
, B. J.
, 2011
, “Epidemiology of Sudden Death in Young, Competitive Athletes Due to Blunt Trauma
,” Pediatrics
, 128
(1
), pp. e1
–e8
.10.1542/peds.2010-27436.
Meehan
, W. P.
, d'Hemecourt
, P.
, and Comstock
, R. D.
, 2010
, “High School Concussions in the 2008–2009 Academic Year
,” Am. J. Sports Med.
, 38
(12
), pp. 2405
–2409
.10.1177/03635465103767377.
Barth
, J. T.
, Freeman
, J. R.
, Broshek
, D. K.
, and Varney
, R. N.
, 2001
, “Acceleration–Deceleration Sport Related Concussion: The Gravity of It All
,” J. Athletic Train.
, 36
(3
), pp. 253
–256
.8.
Binder
, S.
, Corrigan
, J. D.
, and Langlois
, J. A.
, 2005
, “The Public Health Approach to Traumatic Brain Injury: An Overview of CDC’s Research and Programs
,” J Head Trauma Rehabil.
, 20
(3
), pp. 189
–195
.10.1097/00001199-200505000-000029.
Booher
, M. A.
, Wisniewski
, B. W.
, Smith
, B. W.
, and Sigurdson
, A.
, 2003
, “Comparison of Reporting Systems to Determine Concussion Incidence in NCAA Division I Collegiate Football
,” Clin. J. Sport Med.
, 13
(2
), pp. 93
–95
.10.1097/00042752-200303000-0000510.
Crisco
, J. J.
, Fiore
, R.
, Beckwith
, J. G.
, Chu
, J. J.
, Bronlinson
, P. G.
, Duma
, S.
, McAllister
, T. W.
, Duhaime
, A. C.
, and Greenwald
, R. M.
, 2010
, “Frequency and Location of Head Impact Exposures in Individual Collegiate Football Players
,” J. Athletic Train.
, 45
(6
), pp. 549
–559
.10.4085/1062-6050-45.6.54911.
Rowson
, S.
, and Duma
, S.
, 2011
, “Development of the STAR Evaluation System for Football Helmets: Integrating Player Head Impact Exposure and Risk of Concussion
,” Ann. Biomed. Eng.
, 39
(8
), pp. 2130
–2140
.10.1007/s10439-011-0322-512.
McCrea
, M.
, Hammeke
, T.
, Olsen
, G.
, Leo
, P.
, and Guskiewicz
, K. M.
, 2004
, “Unreported Concussion in High School Football Players: Implications for Prevention
,” Clin. J. Sports Med.
, 14
(1
), pp. 13
–17
.10.1097/00042752-200401000-0000313.
Collins
, C. L.
, Comstock
, R. D.
, Dick
, R. W.
, Fields
, S. K.
, and Gessel
, L. M.
, 2007
, “Concussions Among United States High School and Collegiate Athletes
,” J. Athletic Train.
, 42
(4
), pp. 495
–503
.14.
Viano
, D.
, 2005
, “Head Impact Biomechanics in Sport
,” IUTAM
Symposium on Impact Biomechanics: From Fundamental Insights to Applications, M. D. Gilchrist, ed., Springer The Netherlands, pp. 121
–130
.10.1007/1-4020-3796-1_1215.
Stojsih
, S.
, Boitano
, M.
, Wilhelm
, M.
, and Bir
, C.
, 2011
, “A Prospective Study of Punch Biomechanics and Cognitive Function for Amateur Boxers
,” Br. J. Sports Med.
, 44
(10
), pp. 725
–730
.10.1136/bjsm.2008.05284516.
Kalman
, D. P.
, Merrill
, R. L.
, Wagner
, N. J.
, and Wetzel
, E. D.
, 2009
, “Effect of Particle Hardness on the Penetration Behavior of Fabrics Intercalated With Dry Particles and Concentrated Particle-Fluid Suspensions
,” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces
, 1
(11
), pp. 2602
–2612
.10.1021/am900516w17.
Kalman
, D. P.
, and Wagner
, N. J.
, 2009
, “Microstructure of Shear Thickening Concentrated Suspensions Determined by Flow-USANS
,” Rheol. Acta
, 48
(8
), pp. 897
–908
.10.1007/s00397-009-0351-218.
Decker
, M. J.
, Halbach
, C. J.
, Nam
, C. H.
, Wagner
, N. J.
, and Wetzel
, E. D.
, 2007
, “Stab Resistance of Shear Thickening Fluid Treated Fabrics
,” Compos. Sci. Technol.
, 67
(3–4
), pp. 561
–565
10.1016/j.compscitech.2006.08.007.19.
Lee
, Y. S.
, and Wagner
, N. J.
, 2006
, “Rheological Properties and Small-Angle Neutron Scattering of a Shear Thickening, Nanoparticle Dispersion at High Shear Rates
,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.
, 45
(21
), pp. 7015
–7024
.10.1021/ie051269020.
Lee
, Y. S.
, Wetzel
, E. D.
, and Wagner
, N. J.
, 2003
, “The Ballistic Characteristics of Kevlar Woven Fabrics Impregnated With a Colloidal Shear Thickening Fluid
,” J. Mater. Sci.
, 38
(13
), pp. 2825
–2833
.10.1023/A:102442420022121.
Wagner
, N. J.
, and Brady
, J. F.
, 2009
, “Shear Thickening in Colloidal Dispersions
,” Phys. Today
, 62
(10), pp. 27
–32
.10.1063/1.324847622.
Melrose
, J. R.
, and Ball
, R. C.
, 2004
, “Continuous Shear Thickening Transitions in Model Concentrated Colloids—The Role of Interparticle Forces
,” J. Rheol.
, 48
(5
), pp. 937
–960
.10.1122/1.178478323.
Bender
, J.
, and Wagner
, N. J.
, 1996
, “Reversible Shear Thickening in Monodisperse and Bidisperse Colloidal Dispersions
,” J. Rheol.
, 40
(5
), pp. 899
–916
.10.1122/1.55076724.
Laun
, H. M.
, 1984
, “Rheological Properties of Aqueous Polymer Dispersions
,” Angew. Makromol. Chem.
, 123
(1), pp. 335
–359
.10.1002/apmc.1984.05123011525.
Maranzano
, B. J.
, and Wagner
, N. J.
, 2001
, “The Effects of Particle Size on Reversible Shear Thickening of Concentrated Colloidal Dispersions
,” J. Chem. Phys.
, 114
(23
), pp. 10514
–10527
.10.1063/1.137368726.
Mihalik
, J. P.
, Bell
, D. R.
, Marshall
, S. W.
, and Guskiewicz
, K. M.
, 2007
, “Measurement of Head Impacts in Collegiate Football Players: An Investigation of Positional and Event-Type Differences
,” Neurosurgery
, 61
(6
), pp. 1229
–1235
.10.1227/01.neu.0000306101.83882.c827.
Pellman
, E. J.
, Viano
, D. C.
, Tucker
, A. M.
, Casson
, I. R.
, and Waeckerle
, J. F.
, 2003
, “Concussion in Professional Football: Reconstruction of Game Impacts and Injuries
,” Neurosurgery
, 53
(4
), pp. 799
–812
.28.
Guskiewicz
, K. M.
, McCrea
, M.
, Marshall
, S. W.
, Cantu
, R. C.
, Randolph
, C.
, Barr
, W.
, Onate
, J. A.
, and Kelly
, J. P.
, 2003
, “Cumulative Effects Associated With Recurrent Concussion in Collegiate football Players: The NCAA Concussion Study
,” JAMA
, 290
(19
), pp. 2549
–2555
.10.1001/jama.290.19.254929.
Galindo-Rosales
, F. J.
, Rubio-Hernandez
, F. J.
, Sevilla
, A.
, and Ewoldt
, R. H.
, 2011
, “How Dr. Malcom, M. Cross May Have Tackled the Development of an Apparent Viscosity Function for Shear Thickening Fluids
,” J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech.
, 166
(23–24
), pp. 1421
–1424
.10.1016/j.jnnfm.2011.08.00830.
Yoganandan
, N.
, Pintar
, F. A.
, Sances
, A.
, Walsh
, P. R.
, Ewing
, C. L.
, Thomas
, D. J.
, and Snyder
, R. G.
, 1995
, “Biomechanics of Skull Fracture
,” J. Neurotrauma
, 12
(4
), pp. 659
–668
.10.1089/neu.1995.12.65931.
Meaney
, D. F.
, and Smith
, D. H.
, 2011
, “Biomechanics of Concussion
,” Clin. Sports Med.
, 30
(1
), pp. 19
–31
.10.1016/j.csm.2010.08.009Copyright © 2015 by ASME
You do not currently have access to this content.
